


Relieve Your Shoulders

by violetmessages



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gwen and Tosh are Good Friends, Jack/Ianto is only mentioned, Team Bonding, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:27:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24938257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violetmessages/pseuds/violetmessages
Summary: In which Jack is sad and Gwen and Tosh are excellent friends.
Relationships: Gwen Cooper & Jack Harkness, Jack Harkness & Toshiko Sato, Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Comments: 6
Kudos: 56





	Relieve Your Shoulders

Today, Gwen noted, had not been a good day for Jack. 

She had entered the hub this morning in high spirits. It was a Saturday, which meant that it was (rift-permitting) her and Tosh’s Girl’s Night. Rhys had made her eggs before they both left for work and Ianto quietly slipped her a mug of his best coffee when she sat at her desk. Tosh’s rift predictor, which was mostly perfected, promised only a few small rift spikes, leading her to believe that it would be a quiet day. 

That had not been the case.

Three lovely rift alerts later, she was soaking wet, covered in mud, and pissed off. Ianto had the day off after lunch, which meant they were a man down. Tosh and Owen chased a weevil through Splott for an hour before giving up. Owen was understandably in a foul mood. 

It had unfortunately been worse for Jack. He had died twice today, first by a Hoix, then by a Chelonian battle axe hurtling out of the rift. It would have killed Gwen, had he not jumped on top of her, pushing them both into the wet dirt and causing the battle axe to plunge into his head. 

Gwen glanced over to Jack’s desk and watched as he fiddled with his wrist strap. She noticed the empty look in his eyes, seemingly unable to focus on anything. His hands were slightly trembling, clutching his vortex manipulator as if it would disappear at any moment. 

Altogether it was cause for concern.

It was then she noticed Tosh was also watching their “fearless” leader. Her eyes were scrunched up in concern and she bit her lip like she wanted to say something but didn’t dare to.

Gwen knew what she was thinking. It was the same thing that was running through her mind. 

Jack became extremely melancholic after his deaths, as one would expect. His former outlet, brooding silently on rooftops, had recently been replaced by distraction via Ianto. Unfortunately for him, Ianto had taken the afternoon and evening off. 

Gwen was already aware of the fact that, regrettably, all the men of Torchwood were unable to deal with or discuss their feelings in any calm or reasonable manner, and would refuse any offers to do so. She also knew that Jack’s martyr complex would never allow him to reach out to Ianto on his day off, meaning he was probably going to spend the night on top of the Millenium Center. 

Gwen looked over at Tosh and cleared her throat. 

“Do you think we should invite him, just for today?” she whispered

Tosh gently nodded.

“He’s definitely not going to call Ianto.”

“Should I ask or do you want to?”

“We can both do it, let me just finish this up.”

Gwen nodded sharply and swerved her focus on the small mound of paperwork on her desk. A few minutes later Tosh lightly tapped her shoulder and Gwen clicked her pen closed. They walked up and over to Jack’s office where he was still fiddling with his wrist strap. 

As they approached, he looked up at them and gave them a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. 

“Leaving?” he asked.

“Yes,” Tosh said, smiling back warmly. “But we wanted to know if you’d like to join us?”

“On your Girls Night?” He asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Torchwood Three members had certain schedules that were followed (rift-permitting). Saturday nights specifically, were Gwen and Tosh’s Girl Nights. No one dared to mess with their agreed schedules unless it was an emergency. Jack himself approved, stating that they all needed some separation away from Torchwood. Which was why he was staring at them with confusion. 

“We wanted to invite you this week since Tosh says it’s going to be a quiet night.”

“Yeah, the rift predictor isn’t picking up anything for tonight. Owen can handle anything today, and we can always be on call.”

“Are you sure” he asked hesitantly. 

“Of course!” Gwen exclaimed while Tosh nodded her head. “Come with us.”

Jack bit his lip as if deciding, and finally nodded slightly.

“Oh all right,” he said, smiling more widely now. “Where are we off to tonight? Your local?”

“No such luck,” said Tosh. “My place this week. Come on, we can take my car.”

* * *

Tosh opened the door to her flat and ushered Gwen and Jack in.

“Come in, welcome, take your shoes off by the door over there,” gesturing to where Gwen was shucking off her trainers, mostly for Jack’s benefit. She grabbed Gwen’s coat from her hands. 

Gwen bustled past them heading for her kitchen. 

“Hurry up you two! The faster we finish dinner, the better!” she yelled at them.

Tosh turned to Jack. “Do you want me to take your coat Jack?” she asked, arm outstretched. 

“Oh- sure.” he replied, pulling off his RAF coat and placing it gently in her hands. He stuck his hands in his pockets and looked around, if slightly awkwardly. He seemed strangely nervous, as if Gwen and Tosh were minutes away from drop-kicking him off her roof. 

“Nice place,” he said. Tosh grinned at him. 

“Thanks!” 

They looked at each other for a minute, then Tosh tilted her head towards the kitchen. 

“Come on then. Gwen tends to yell when she gets impatient. And I think she has the unique ability to simultaneously burn and under-cook everything without proper supervision.” 

Jack laughed. "That's our Gwen." he said, as they heard her voice shouting at them from the kitchen to hurry up. 

* * *

“So let me get this straight,” Jack said, “This man is at his best friend’s wedding but he’s in love with her”

“Yup” 

“And he’s missed several opportunities to confess his feelings?”

“Yup”

“But then a time travelling fairy lets him travel back in time for another shot?” 

“Yup”

“That doesn't make sense though! Wouldn’t that just make a paradox? If he had started dating her then, how would he be at her wedding now?”

Tosh rolled her eyes.

“Jack, it’s a Japanese romance drama, they don’t need to make sense to be good.”

“Just enjoy it.” Gwen said. “They’re great even if you don’t know exactly what they’re saying. Plus this one has subtitles. The last one we watched didn’t even have them!”

“Then how did you know what was happening?”

“Like I said, you don’t actually need to know what they’re saying to have a good time.”

Jack shook his head. "You both are ridiculous".

He laughed as he leaned back on Tosh’s sofa, lifted his sock clad feet next to theirs on her coffee table and placed an arm around each of them. His smile grew wider as both of them leaned their heads against him and wrapped their arms around him, forming a Jack sandwich. 

“Shh” Tosh said.

He shut up after that, leaning into their warm embrace and paying attention to the show. It was actually quite good, he thought. Not that he would have ever admitted it to them. It helped distract from the gnawing blackness he felt after multiple deaths. 

Finally after a few hours he felt the steady breathing of his two teammates and heard Toshiko’s quiet snores. Gwen murmured something nonsensically in her sleep and turned slightly. Jack smiled. 

“Thank you” he whispered into the air. 

**Author's Note:**

> The J-Drama mentioned in this is real! It's called Puropōzu Daisakusen. Kudos/comments are appreciated. Thank you for reading!
> 
> Find me on tumblr [here](https://violetmessages.tumblr.com/)


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